Recurrence
by Linnya
Summary: He loved his companions, yet he always lost them in the end. So what more could the Doctor want than an immortal friend who would never leave him? This is the story of the Doctor and Captain Jack, from the beginning of the universe to its very end. (Semi-platonic Doctor/Jack, character death)
1. Comprehension

Seriously, I thought I was getting too old for this, but the Doctor has reawakened my excitable fangirl heart after all.

So, I was working on that DWHP crossover of mine (I'll get back to writing that soon!) when I realized that I rather like the potential harmony between the Doctor and Jack. Both of them will grow incredibly old, and both of them suffer from losing everyone around them over and over again. If only they bothered getting along properly, their mere friendship might turn the universe into a less vast and lonely place for both of them.

Eventually, I came up with a framework to explore the idea of the two of them supporting each other throughout time and space and half an eternity without being _together_ per se.

But in any case, a list of **warnings** before we begin:

- Captain Jack means innuendo, thus there's lots of flirting and ambiguity involved.

- There will be some Torchwood references. There will be some spoilers, but nothing beyond what you normally accidentally find out within this fandom.

- The chapters are sorted by contextual continuity. For that reason, the story won't progress chronologically for either Jack or the Doctor.

- Lastly, I'm trying to tell the _whole_ story of the two of them (rather compactly so), which means that ultimately there will be **death and dramu**…to a certain extent. Also, some regeneration fun and temporary death…and stuff.

So now, onto the story!

* * *

**Recurrence**

Disclaimer: Doctor Who belongs to BBC.

Setting: AU from Last of the Time Lords, with Jack choosing to travel with the Doctor rather than returning to Torchwood right away.

* * *

**Part 1**

**Comprehension**

Anno 3 797 010 340 B.C. – 10th Doctor, 936 – Jack, 632

_The Doctor's point of view._

"Legends say that life came into existence mere hours after space-time itself," the Doctor mused as he strolled through the console room, "Of course, those were mere stories told to young time lords, but it can't hurt to find out after all, now can it?"  
He had been slightly anxious about this, but with excitement bubbling up inside of him he just had to grin in anticipation. "_So that I may perceive whatever holds_," the Doctor quoted in a low hum, "_The world together in its inmost folds._" He had been itching to visit this particular event, yet reason had always kept him from doing so. But then his latest faithful companion had managed overruling his rational decision after all. Bad influence, that, for better or for worse.

Quite a while had passed since he had picked the captain to travel with him, and regardless of his own instincts screaming at him, regardless of the inherent wrongness of an immortal being, he was grateful to experience wonders like this with someone dear to him. Wonders like vastly condensed matter visible above their very heads without burning or squeezing them out of existence.

"Captain Jack Harkness," he announced brilliantly, "Meet the beginning of the universe!" With that, he pushed a pair of wooden doors open and was thrilled to lay eyes on thriving greenery under a blindingly bright sky.

The immortal grinned at him, and together they stepped out into a forest of giant mushrooms and even bigger palm trees. Everything they looked at, the moss, the pebbles, the mountains in the far distance, was shining in the brightest colours and so ludicrously oversized it almost felt surreal. And yet, they were standing in the middle of it – the first forest after the Big Bang, and it was _impossible in any way_.

"I can't believe this," Jack breathed, staring from a bright sky of pure energy to the very inhabitable forest they had just entered, "We're standing in a dense plasma of electrons, and still…_this_. How can that be?"

The Doctor smiled back softly before looking up at the sky as well. From the strange metallic taste in the air to the slight humming the back of his head, a lot felt _strange_ in this place. But Jack had just asked the real question, and the Doctor had been wondering exactly the same thing. "This is the earliest possible time the Tardis can travel to," he explained with a frown, "but we're still some hundred thousands of years off the Big Bang itself. Assuming the universe has been expanding at random for quite a while, it would be highly improbable _not_ to find some sort of order _somewhere_." His gaze travelled back to the radiant sky, and he waited for his wild guess to be disproven. _It's too soon._

And of course, his loyal companion didn't fail him. "This is a planet, Doctor," Jack informed him, "A planet amidst a mass of highly condensed matter." Their eyes met and he added, "A planet with a flora and an _atmospheric protection_ _against raw energy_."

"Highly unlikely," the Doctor agreed with a nod before strolling off in one random direction, "but only a bit less likely than someone hiding a planet in the beginning of time."

Jack's eyes suddenly lit up. "I like the sound of that," he grinned and jogged up to his friend, "Just think about it. What could be so important someone would hide it here?"

The Doctor nodded wordlessly as he took in every detail of the unlikely world around them. Small pinkish insects, apple-like fruit that hung from lianas, thin pathways that could as well have been created by intelligent beings and always, everywhere, that unnerving iron taste on his tongue.

"Maybe another time lord?" Jack guessed helpfully, "We found the Master at the end of the universe, this wouldn't be so far off."

Brushing a particularly large branch out of his way, the Doctor frowned. "Maybe," he drawled, "but maybe not." Decades may have passed since then, but he doubted he would be ready for another disaster like what he had gone through with the Master any time soon. In any case, he had a feeling he would not have to worry about that anyway. As they were venturing onward, the path widened ever so gradually, almost as if it was welcoming them. Was it only him, or was the humming slowly growing louder?

Suddenly, a hooved turtle shuffled out of the bushes, crossed their path and vanished underneath a giant banana. "I don't even know how to phrase this," Jack commented as he crouched to look after the strange creature, "It's like…someone experimented without really caring."

"And they stored everything on this planet at the beginning of time, hidden away from any laws?" the Doctor finished Jack's thought, "I think it's deeper than that." He thoughtfully picked a cherry from a nearby mushroom tree and inspected it. "It feels like…a by-product." Just at that notion, he saw something glinting through the branches and curiously stepped closer…and he quickly backed away in surprise.

Another bizarre detail about this planet was the utter absence of weather whatsoever. No wind, not even a breeze had warned him of the even ground turning into a steep cliff line mere metres beyond the mushroom's leaves. What caused even more confusion, however, was the sight that greeted them. Within a chain of mountains laid a perfectly round, peaceful plain of gentle colours, amidst which a perfectly shaped, emerald lake was sparkling brilliantly.

Jack whistled in appreciation, but the Doctor only stared. "This is…too much," the time lord whispered, "too orderly."

"That's a freaking fractal lake, Doctor," Jack spoke in wonder, "You can't tell me that this was _not_ created."

"I'm not saying that it wasn't created," the Doctor replied and finally tore his gaze off the landscape in front on him, "but if I were to come up with an entire world, I wouldn't do it like that. I would try to create it in such a way that it could last. But this…" Stepping away from the cliff, he walked back onto the pathway, taking in all the tiny and giant obscurity it held, "Just look around. This whole world. Time, together with physics and evolution, would never create such a thing. Nothing we see here can develop by conventional means, let alone survive for long. You're absolutely right, this world is constructed…but not intentionally."

Jack followed him slowly, an eyebrow arched in confusion, "What do you mean?"

"We're close to the very origin of everything," the Doctor explained and put on his glasses to get a closer look at the crimson cherry he was still holding. "If we could get further back in time, we would, at least theoretically, end up at a single point of convergence, and not even the time lords knew what really happened then. If even the time vortex itself is condensed to one point there, it is entirely possible for knowledge of the future to seep through, resulting in, well, this." He handed Jack the cherry and _waited _for his friend's eyes to widen. From a distance, the fruit looked startlingly normal, but once you examined it more closely, you could make out tiny inscriptions on the surface, formulas and quotations alike.

_'Beautiful moment, do not pass away!'_ he heard Jack's voice above the constant humming in his head, and the Doctor nodded in agreement. "Goethe, good man, brilliant mind," he mused as he walked around thoughtfully, "always a bit difficult, though. But the real question is: how can we read his words on a cherry _at the beginning of time itself?_"

Jack finally averted his gaze from the fruit to blink at his friend in confusion. "So this is an anomaly?" he drawled, "All kinds of information flowing together to form a random world _just because_?"

"Well, it's either that," the Doctor replied as he pocketed his glasses again, "or intelligent design." Their eyes met for a moment, and he continued with a slight grimace, "If, right now, the universe truly was being created by some sort of higher being, a laboratory like this one would be nothing out of the ordinary." Walking around, he tasted the air once more, and if his sense were not failing him, the iron stench was growing worse and worse.

'Seriously, a _god_?' he heard Jack answering, 'But doesn't that mean that this planet, right here, right now, might not be a laboratory…but a _home_?'

Whirling around, the Doctor stared at the immortal with wide eyes. "If you're right," he whispered and approached the pathway once more, squinting in the attempt to find out where it led, "then the universe has an origin, and it is right around the corner." He drifted forward without really noticing, and the further he went, the louder the constant background noise grew. No matter whether it was a creator, an energy surge, or anything, it was attracting him, and he was _intrigued_.

'Doctor, what's happening?' he heard Jack behind him.

He was exploring, of course, what else would he be doing?

Suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder. With a blink, he halted in his step and turned around to find his companion frowning back at him in worry. "Doctor," Jack stated slowly, "Where do you think you're going?"

The Doctor noted in surprise how they had moved quite a distance in the meantime. "Aren't you interested?" he grinned in barely concealed excitement, "There might be a higher being here, you said so yourself!"

Jack's eyes widened. "I said no such thing," he pointed out carefully.

The Doctor's face froze. _What?_

'How do you know where to go anyway?' Jack added silently.

They looked at each other for a long moment before the Doctor's face twitched into an uncertain smile. "Don't you hear it?" he asked, "the humming that's growing louder the further we go?"

Jack took a deep breath and a hesitant step back. "I don't hear anything, Doctor," he whispered quietly and trailed off, 'but can it be that you are reading my thoughts?'

_…what?_

"Nonsense," the Doctor replied with a frown, "time lords may be psychic to a certain extent, but _that_ is off the scale."

Jack arched an eyebrow. "And yet you just answered a question I never spoke out loud," he commented, "Maybe there's something godlike close, or maybe the vortex is seeping through, but in any case, it's influencing you."

The Doctor opened his mouth and closed it again. So it was true? He had somehow been hearing Jack's mind rather than his voice?

'And I really can't promise to keep my thoughts in check,' the immortal commented sheepishly, and now that he knew what to look for, the Doctor could actually tell the difference. Rather than registering with his ears first, that last sentence had entered his consciousness directly, and he wondered whether to feel violated or intrigued by that strange sensation. "Well, this is definitely new," he pondered with a slight frown, "But I guess as long as it's only slightly enhanced telepathy, I can manage." With that, he finally allowed himself to actually meet Jack's eye again and took a deep breath. "Are you afraid?" he asked and extended his hand, "Or do you want to venture on with me?"

Jack did not even take the time to reconsider. "I'm in this with you, of course I am," he declared as he grabbed his friend's hand with a grin, "You need someone to watch your back, don't forget that."

The Doctor smiled, "Thank you."

As they kept walking, across a clearing made of ice, through a herd of fluff ball sheep and across a tree formed to be a bridge, the Doctor felt…grateful.

'Beautifully grotesque…'

Grateful for the universe, for life, and for everything that made his own existence so pleasantly worthwhile. Adventures like this one, so grand, so meaningful, so frightening and exciting at the same time. "Quite a scary thought, isn't it?" he wondered aloud as he halted to examine a strangely familiar pattern on the thorn of a gigantic rose, "We're at the origin of everything, and apparently, literally everything can happen here."

"…everything, eh?" Jack replied with a grin and an arched eyebrow, and the Doctor didn't need to hear any of his friend's thoughts to understand – and ignore – the innuendo. But more importantly, the immortal was flirting to hide his actual thoughts. The humming inside the Doctor's head had grown louder and louder, and yet he could hear Jack's mind quite clearly, 'The air tastes of blood.'

And he was right.

"We should leave," the time lord whispered in a shaky voice, "we're headed for a singularity in time and space itself, but if the Tardis can't reach it, then neither should we." He took a deep breath, and it smelled horrifying. "And the closer we get, the more strange things will happen." He gulped, and he sought his friend's eyes for any sort of affirmation.

Jack's tense expression turned into a hesitant smile. "Yes," he uttered, "Yes, we should leave."

So they agreed, wonderful. Nothing left to do here, nothing at all. They turned around and would return to the the Tardis, and they would be the only ones knowing of this wondrous, strange, creational world that stood at the very beginning. Whatever was truly happening at the end of the pathway was not _that_ important, was it?

'Nothing is worth losing you.' He blinked at Jack, momentarily confused. Again, the immortal was right, wasn't he? Just as the question about the source of everything itself, the atmosphere was terrifying, and if the origin's presence had widened the Doctor's senses from afar and beyond reason, then its proximity might cause the unimaginable.

So why…didn't he want to return yet?

His companion had been dragging him back towards the Tardis, reasonably so, but the time lord only consciously noted it when they suddenly stopped.

"Doctor," Jack whispered, his eyes wide, "the bridge is gone."

Finally, that _did_ gain the Doctor's attention. "…What?" he replied and approached the hilariously deep canyon they had crossed earlier.

"It was definitely here," Jack stressed and ran hand through his hair, "A single solid tree formed like an actual bridge, with ledge and leaves and everything."

The Doctor arched an eyebrow at his friend before looking back toward that all too alluring pathway. "Whatever is there wants us to come," he concluded slowly.

A hand grabbed his wrist, and he was momentarily confused about how he had manoeuvred himself so far off the canyon again.  
"Or maybe it's you _wanting_ to go," Jack suggested quietly and met the time lord's frown with a serious expression. "Whatever created this world is reacting to you," he explained and pulled his friend into a hug, "not to me, but to _you_." He took a deep breath and continued, "And maybe it's even changing you." He released the time lord at last, and his gaze was _piercing_. 'If you can read my mind, then your thoughts recreating the world around you might _just be the next step_.'

Naturally, the Doctor was unsure how to take that piece of information. How would Jack even come up with something as absurd as that?

"Look, if that was true, I could just urge that bridge back into existence," he offered and looked back at the canyon, "I could turn the sky red and I could create a wasteland right here and I could do _so much more, _but I just _can't_." He found Jack smiling tiredly, and he was confused again. "No one's meant to have a power like that," he added, "and no one _can_." Something shifted in the corner of his eye, but his mind was too preoccupied to take further notice. Why was this topic agitating him so much anyway? Even if it was possible, he would never want such a horrible ability…or would he?

"What about the Tardis?" Jack asked innocently, "Could you bring it here, hypothetically?"

The Doctor blinked once more. What was his friend getting at? Hypothetically, he could send her anywhere, but the point was that he would not need to anyway. He would be able to accomplish anything from that very spot. Anything he ever wanted, anything he ever could want, and most importantly…

"Jack," he whispered almost desperately, "I could save everyone we lost."

The immortal's eyes widened dramatically. "Doctor, stop it," he replied hoarsely, "You…you can't." With a deep breath, he tore his incredulous gaze off the Doctor to drag him along in a seemingly random direction.

"That's my point exactly, I _can't_," the time lord replied indignantly.

Again, Jack sent him that bitter smile. "You know, Doctor," he commented as he produced a key from his pockets, "You began citing Goethe even _before_ we found his words imprinted on a cherry." With that, he unlocked the Tardis that _had appeared out of nowhere_ and quickly pushed the Doctor inside. "We need to get you out of here," he insisted, "Right now."

The time lord's hearts skipped a beat as he finally realized what was happening. His wonderful friend had yanked the doors shut behind them and was dashing towards the console, already starting with the engine a second later.

All the while, the Doctor stood frozen. The sound of the universe was echoing through the room, taking him millions of miles and billions of years away from that place.

But the constant humming never left his head.

He had walked with his eyes open, but he had not _seen_. His last glimpse of the impossible planet at the beginning of time had not been the blindingly colourful mushroom forest he had entered before… but a deadly desert under a red sky.

And it had been his doing.

Jack had noticed the Doctor's strange new ability, but he himself had not…and that was the worst part. A time lord with the power of creation was a person to be feared, but a time lord willing random thoughts into existence without even realizing it would end up – No. He could not think about it. He would not allow himself to accidentally –

He loved the universe, and he would do anything for it to stay as wonderful as it was.

"_But there's no joy in self-delusion;_" he whispered as he strolled towards the console, "_Your search for truth ends in confusion._"

For whatever reason, he had gained a power that endangered everything he held dear. Just as Jack had suggested, it might have been the origin reacting to his thoughts. As such, everything should turn back to normal as soon as they left that strange world, but...

They had crossed time and space and had arrived somewhere around the 42nd century.

And he could still hear the humming in his head.

* * *

From the Tardis' front door, they were looking down at the one planet the Doctor had learnt to love so much.

Earth.

He would never grow tired of marvelling at its beauty, and thus he once again etched every detail into his mind…for he doubted he would get another chance to for quite a while.

But – he had to be careful; he had to keep his mind clear.

On cue, Jack met his eye and broke the silence. "Are you…better?" he asked.

The Doctor smiled back tiredly. "I wish I was," he replied, choosing his words carefully, "but the humming's more persistent than that." He had become too powerful for the universe to handle, and he could only come up with one solution to that problem. But how could he make Jack understand? "It will wear off eventually," he both hoped and demanded, "Put me in a stasis and go." He should not mention his most unfair argument, and yet he needed to, "Ianto is alive and waiting for you."

Hurt flickered across Jack's face, but he looked more determined than ever. "You know the deal, Doctor," he chided with a frown and stepped closer, "No matter whether it's radiation or the time vortex itself…" His voice dropped to a mere whisper. "It doesn't react to me that way, and _I can take it much better than you_."

The Doctor stared at his friend in defiance, yet the moment he opened his mouth to protest, it was captured in a desperate kiss.

Ever so gradually, his mind cleared up.

Eventually, even the humming quietened down.

But Jack's one, most prominent thought kept ghosting through his head.

_'Nothing is worth losing you.'_

The Doctor smiled bitterly as he caught his friend's limp body in his arms. "We've been travelling together for _decades_, Jack," he whispered into unhearing ears, "What makes you think I don't feel the same?"

* * *

Wide eyes met tired ones.

An hour had passed, and another one, until Jack's body had finally jerked back to life.

The immortal was panting heavily, but his breathing returned to normal ever so gradually.

"We need a new rule for this sort of thing," the Doctor whispered dryly, "I hate watching you die on me." Consciously or not, he did not stop stroking Jack's hair.

And, well, the captain did not seem to mind, either. "It was the most logical decision," he replied with a lopsided grin.

"This wasn't just a bullet wound you took for me," the Doctor explained quietly, "it might, no, it should have killed you for good this time." He had been doing his best not to dwell on that option, but now that he had dared speaking it out loud, he realized that his own lethargy was nothing else…but fear.

Jack's grin froze briefly before he sat up at last. "Don't worry," he laughed and hopped to his feet, flexing his muscles experimentally as he strode through the console room, "look, I'm fine."

The Doctor heaved a sigh before he stood up as well. "Yes, of course," he replied, watching his friend carefully. At the very least, Jack seemed normal enough; he was all but bouncing, and he showed no indications of paranormal abilities.

Normal enough indeed.

But…

"So, where to now?" the Doctor began as he pushed his hands in his pockets and walked over to join his friend at the console, "We could go to Mars, or we could go to Cardiff, or we could try to make sense of _whatever just happened_." He took a casual look at the main screen, but kept watching the immortal out of the corner of his eye.

Jack had been checking their current location's data and did not seem too fazed by the Doctor's words.

But his mouth was twitching in agitation.

And so, the Doctor leant closer. "We've been travelling for ages, and I never got around to asking," he spoke quietly, "are you happy like this, Jack?" He tried not to look too concerned, but he knew he was failing miserably, for he saw his friend's eyes widening rather dramatically.

A heavy silence settled until Jack dared trusting his voice again. "What is this really about?"

The Doctor heaved a sigh. "About _us_," he said simply.

Jack could not help frowning. "You're angry I saved you, is that it?" he deduced indignantly. "Friends help each other, you know. I've been playing by your rules, Doctor, but expecting me _not to care_ goes a bit far."

The time lord finally allowed himself to smile again. "That's just it, Jack," he mused as he leant against the console to look at the ceiling, "I didn't know."

He wondered how to phrase his thoughts, and thankfully his friend did not urge him.

"I might only have gotten a glimpse," the Doctor explained carefully, "but I've seen _enough_ of your thoughts."

Jack's eyes widened, and he quickly threw his hands in the air. "Look, I'm really just imaginative," he justified himself and frowned at his friend, "and _you know that_."

In spite of himself, the Doctor could not help chuckling. Frankly, he had come to terms with Jack's _unique_ nature long ago. The man was flirting with everything remotely attractive and had probably succeeded more often than not. Thankfully, though, he had never actively approached the Doctor that way.

But along with the strangest memories, the time lord had gotten a glimpse of his friend's actual devotion to him without even intending to.

And, honestly spoken, the Doctor was not even surprised. "I met older versions of you, too," he admitted with a shrug and continued, "I should not have seen what's on your mind, but now that I have, I want to make the best of it."

Jack's grin was a hesitant one. "…Dinner for two?"

The Doctor shook his head with a smile and reached for the vortex manipulator strapped to his friend's wrist. "I want you to go," he announced as he added a number of settings with the sonic screwdriver, "and I want you to return."

Jack blinked from the device to his friend and back in confusion. "And I want you to stay," the Doctor added, "whenever and whichever way you please."

Once again, Jack blinked. "So you're…not really dumping me, are you?" he asked hesitantly.

"You're _not_ just another companion, Jack," the Doctor spoke with a wistful smile, "and you really don't need to keep trying to impress me. You've gained my respect so very long ago." He sighed softly before going on, "But you, too, have people and needs to take care of, so I can't just keep you here like a bird in a cage. Not anymore."

Finally, Jack lowered the vortex manipulator and gulped down what appeared to be a huge lump in his throat, "And you won't vanish on me again?"

"You've got my number, so just call me," the Doctor replied with a grin and pulled his friend into a hug. "We've got so many great adventures ahead of us, after all."

He closed his eyes and chose not to finish that last sentence.

_…and I want to keep looking forward to those adventures until the end of my days._

* * *

Thank you for reading this far, and please leave a review!


	2. Intermission: Routine

This is really just a short transition chapter to illustrate how they meet up every once in a while, starring Eleven and the Ponds.

_Warning: Jack in a good mood :D_

* * *

**Part 2 (Intermission)**

**Routine**

Anno 2012 – Eleventh Doctor, 1243 – Jack, 2090

_Rory's point of view._

Objectively spoken, it was a nice place.

Objectively spoken, he was experiencing more fantastic adventures than he had ever thought possible.

Objectively spoken, though, he had every right to disapprove of their ghastly dangerous new lifestyle. It had been Amy's choice to stay, to keep travelling simply _because they could_ in spite of everything that had happened, but if all their adventures with the Doctor had taught Rory anything, it had made him realize one simple, plain truth; Out of all the aliens and monsters and terrible threats they had met, nothing could frighten him more than the prospect of losing his wife during those battles.

But what could he say? What argument could possibly be pressing enough for her to let go of her childhood fairytale and return to reality? To _his_ reality?

With a heavy sigh, he rested his head on his palms and found Amy glancing up at him at last. He had been watching her all the time as she was sitting on the stairs next to the Tardis' console reading a random book, but she had only noticed now. She sent him a sweet smile before her attention returned to the story, and he could not help sighing once again.

With the Doctor wandering the Tardis' maze of an interior doing…whatever it was he did there, this might be as good a chance as any to confront Amy. So, with his heart in his boots and a lump in his throat, Rory straightened and turned to walk over to his wife.

As a matter of fact, his heart was beating so fast and loudly that he failed to notice the Tardis' doors opening behind him. "New pretty face and still not ginger, eh?"

Blinking rapidly, Rory whirled around to find a tall man in a military coat all but beaming down at him. Worse yet, he did not even have the time to squeak in surprise, for he suddenly found the stranger's lips pressed against his own.

His eyes widened and he quickly pushed the man away.

Licking his own lips with a thoughtful expression, the stranger didn't seem fazed at all – but Rory certainly was. He tried ignoring his wife's amused snorts in the background as he glared daggers at the man. "Who are you," he demanded angrily, "and what do you want?"

Finally, the man reacted – by sighing dramatically. "Thought so," he muttered and his extended his hand, "Captain Jack Harkness." Almost automatically, his former smile slid back into place. "I was looking for the Doctor, but you taste surprisingly human," he continued charmingly, "so I take it you're one of his companions?"

Rory opened his mouth, but was still too baffled to actually speak. Meanwhile, Amy had giggled her way over to the two of them. "Now, firstly and most importantly, _Captain,_ this beauty is already taken," she clarified as she hugged her husband from behind, "Secondly, you and the Doctor…"

Of course her hug reassured Rory to a certain extent, but the stranger's unfaltering smile kept giving him the creeps. "We go way back," Jack offered brilliantly before leaning awfully close again, "And as to your first and most important argument…" His grin grew even wider, "You're _both_ pretty cute, actually."

_Holy shit._

Yet another shiver ran down Rory's spine when finally, and just in time, another voice rang through the control room. "Jack, there's this warship from the 50th century on a mad dash through time itself," he explained as he descended the stairs in his usual untroubled stroll, "I thought you might be interested." He welcomed Jack with a smile and a hug, which confused Rory even more. Hadn't that stranger kissed him earlier because he had, for some reason, expected him to be the Doctor? On that note, what did 'We go way back' mean?

"Oh well, I always like a good adventure," Jack replied good-naturedly and looked around, "but as to what I am _interested_ in, there's already enough of that within this room, thank you very much." This time, his gaze was directed at the Doctor himself, and the time lord simply sighed. "Jack," he pointed out rather thoughtfully, "your shameless flirting seems to disgruntle my parents-in-law."

Suddenly, Rory and his wife had become the center of attention to both aliens – or not so alien, he was not sure about Jack, yet he certainly seemed off-worldly enough to him. He gulped, confused.

After a short moment of hesitation, Jack suddenly blinked in comprehension. "Of course," he uttered, "so you must be the legendary Ponds." He chuckled, "I've only heard the best about you."

As Amy's giggles died next to him, Rory grew even more suspicious of that strange new character. "You've…heard about us?" he drawled.

And he was not even surprised to find Jack smirking. Thankfully, though, it was the Doctor who supplied them with the answer, "He's been, well, _neighbors_ with River for a while," he explained and tilted his head with a questioning look at his so-called long-time friend, "I never quite found out what got him imprisoned, though."

"And you never will," Jack grinned mysteriously, "So, how about that adventure?"

Clapping his hands, the Doctor whirled around. "Yes," he agreed and turned on the engine, "Get ready, everyone, we're going to save the day!"

And just like that, everybody was on the move again. Jack strode around the room, watching it appraisingly, Amy prowled around, watching their crew's newest addition appraisingly, and Rory, well, he simply stood in disbelief…until he noticed the captain's eyes on him, that is.

Another shiver ran down his spine. For whatever reason, Jack really seemed to be interested in him rather than his beautiful wife.

Objectively spoken, he could maybe even use that to make her just a bit jealous – but…no! What the hell was he even thinking!

Jack winked knowingly before joining the Doctor at the console, and once again, Rory stood blinking.

He had fought pirates, aliens and time itself, but this strange new situation thoroughly disturbed him.

_Intermission - End_

* * *

Next time, we'll get to know how the Doctor and Jack ended up travelling together in the first place. So stay tuned, and please leave a review! Thank you :)


	3. Faith

**Part 3: Faith**

Anno 1892 – Tenth Doctor, 1106 – Jack, 57  
(Jack's first "death" after Satellite 5)

_Jack's point of view_

America, land of freedom and opportunities.

He had been living in that time for more than twenty years, and yet Captain Jack Harkness still failed to understand what freedom meant in the nineteenth century.

It had been nothing extraordinary, really. His search for the Doctor had led him to New York when somebody stole his – forged – credentials. Ever the pickpocket himself, he had shrugged it off and simply pilfered them back. Normally, he would have taken more drastic measures, but he had been in a good mood and had still not decided how to hit on that dazzling brunet in the neighbouring queue. Thus, he had not bothered confronting the thief. After all, everybody wanted to taste a bit of America's legendary freedom, and he could not really blame the haggard, dirty man for dreaming of a better life.

But then again, he probably should have spent some seconds on intimidating him. He might not have gotten the brunet's name that way, but at least he would still stand a chance on actually dating him.

Alas, here he laid in a pool of his own blood, caught off guard by a homophobic, gunned thief ready for revenge. His body had grown numb enough not to even register much of the pain in his chest anymore, and yet he still felt strangely awake.

"If it's any consolidation," he heard a familiar voice above him, "that man will get what he deserves."

In spite of the situation, Jack could not help smiling. Thanks to his limited mobility, he could not see the man, but he would recognize that subtle Scottish accent anywhere. _John._ His latest flirt seemed awfully familiar to such situations, but then again, he would not have expected the brunet to find him in this dark corner to begin with.

And…he was grateful not to be alone in that dire moment. "I wanted…to ask you out for dinner," he whispered, and his sentence ended in a fit of coughs.

Finally, as he crouched next to a dying man, the brunet almost-stranger entered his field of vision, and his otherwise handsome features looked both pale and awfully concerned. "We'll have lots of dinners together," he smiled softly and reached for Jack's hand, "You'll get out of this just fine." It was a lie and Jack knew it, but for the moment, a lie was all he needed.

"I would like that," he whispered and closed his eyes, imagining all the wonderful things life would still have had in store for him, "I would like that very much."

A set of coughs shook him out of his reverie, but they were not his own. His eyes shot open. If his latest friend had gotten injured while trying to help, he was in danger himself, he should not –

"I should have come much earlier," the brunet spoke softly, "I guess I was afraid." He sent him a gentle smile and continued in his strange monologue, "No matter what will come, keep in mind that you are not alone."

As he was lying motionless in the arms of a stranger, his mind so sluggish he could barely concentrate, Jack only noticed he was crying when a tear was brushed off his cheek. "It took me a long time to acknowledge it," the brunet added wistfully, "to acknowledge the fact that I need you in my life." Their eyes met, both so much older than they should be, and even in his dazed state of mind Jack finally saw the other man for who he was. "You are a wonderful, impossible being, Jack Harkness," _the Doctor_ whispered in his ear as he pulled him into a gentle hug, "and if we ever meet again, I would be honoured to travel with you once more."

He wanted to return the embrace, to answer, to give his dear friend any kind of indication of how much those words meant to him. And yet, helpless in the face of death, Jack could not move a single muscle.

He had been alive for half a century and seen more than most people his age. But right then, he felt that he had never been as happy as in the very moment – and in that short moment of bliss, he did no longer mind that he was dying. Not at all.

* * *

Anno 2008 – Tenth Doctor, 906 – Jack, 174  
(After the year that never was)

_Martha's point of view_

„Really, you could come, you know."

They had survived the end of the world – better yet, they had managed undoing the worst carnage in the history of mankind. A whole year of pain and terror had been undone…at least to most of earth's inhabitant.

Martha, however, bore the burden of remembering every detail of that horrible year, and so did her family. She had helped saving the world, but she could take it no longer.

The Doctor did not see her the way she saw him, and she just…could not keep travelling with him anymore. It was hard enough on her to begin with, but now she had other, more pressing duties. She would find her own way from now on, because she really had no other choice.

It was a hard decision to make, but the Doctor would be fine. He only needed one companion anyway, and she knew that Jack would follow him to the end of time itself. Well, technically, he had already done that, but she was still convinced of his loyalty. Jack might have been a normal human once, but he was immortal now, and if there was something the Doctor deserved, it was a friend who would neither age nor die on him.

"The last time I met the Doctor before joining up with you, he was really…much older," the immortal had reminisced on one of the few precious evenings they had spent simply _talking_, "He had come to cheer me up in a really bad situation, and I _loved_ him for that."

Jack and the Doctor – they were perfect for each other, and she accepted that now.

So why the hell was Jack hesitating?

"I had plenty of time to think during that past year," the immortal mused with a forlorn look on his face, "and I kept thinking about that team of mine."

The Doctor seemed to accept that answer, but Martha would not stand for it – not after her own decision to leave, and certainly not with her knowledge on Jack's actual devotion.

"Come on, Jack," she urged him with a _look_, "You've been waiting for this. You can return to this day whenever you want, but the next chance to come along might take centuries to occur."

The Doctor arched an eyebrow at her perseverance, but she had accomplished her goal; Jack took a moment to reconsider.

And of course, he smiled in defeat. "Of course, a year of thinking about friends," he stated and winked at the time lord, "is nothing against a century of recalling that handsome face."

The Doctor frowned in disbelief. "Oh, don't _start_," he replied indignantly and blinked, "Wait, have you met _this_ regeneration of me? _When?_"

Jack grinned mysteriously, "Oh, you'll know."

Martha, meanwhile, couldn't help laughing. Maybe she would never have the chance to become that important to the time lord, and obviously the Doctor had no idea yet. But one day, and possibly forever, these two unbelievably old men would stand as protectors of the universe. _Together._

* * *

Anno 1892 – Tenth Doctor, 1106 – Jack, 57  
(After the Doctor's visit on Jack's first "death")

_The Doctor's point of view_

He really thought he was dying.

Young Jack, so blissfully naïve, had no idea the curse of immortality was awaiting him. Hopefully, though, he would one day understand it as a gift rather than a curse.

The Doctor did not have it in him to warn his hilariously young friend, to even tell him of what had happened back then. And so, the very least he could do was to be at Jack's side when he needed it the most.

It was a slow death, and the Doctor hated having to witness life seeping out of the one companion that would hopefully never die on him.

Jack Harkness would survive and grow impossibly old, just like the Doctor himself. For once, the time lord would not be the one outliving a friend.

…and his own egoism in that matter was starting to frighten him.

His own upcoming regeneration, growing more intense with every minute he spent suppressing it, might kill him after all, but the universe still had one marvelous Captain Jack Harkness to save the day, and that was all it needed.

With that thought in mind, the Doctor dragged his unwilling feet back towards the Tardis. A tall man was standing next to it, and the time lord was not surprised it was the same impossible being he had just left behind in a dark corner of the immigration hall.

"You're not getting away that easily, sunshine," Jack greeted him with a half-hearted grin.

The Doctor felt both panicked and relieved. "You shouldn't have come." His friend's loyalty touched him greatly, but the sheer force of regeneration could permanently harm even immortal beings. Wasn't that the sole reason he had not bothered summoning _his_ Jack in the first place? But of course he had, unintentionally, done so by paying him a visit that was long due anyway.

Now that he thought about it, it would have been strange if the immortal had _not_ shown up, given the circumstances. So maybe, just like his own regeneration had been foretold, his friend's presence was meant to be.

Maybe he should no longer bother hiding his own poor condition, for that was becoming all but impossible anyway.

He saw Jack rolling his eyes before he ducked under the time lord's arm to steady him on his venture. "I've been pondering this day for more than a hundred years," the immortal informed him rather good-naturedly, "At first I was elated, and then I started wondering, _what has gotten into him? _I really had no other choice but to come here, now that I finally got the chance."

The Doctor frowned. So what Jack was he facing then? A young one, yet which one? But then again, did it really matter?

With an encouraging grin, the immortal pushed the doors open and they entered the Tardis together. "I figured you might be regenerating," he spoke, and his grin faltered ever so briefly, "Is there anything I can do?"

Finally _back_, the Doctor loosened his iron grip on Jack's shoulders to stagger towards the console. "Don't stay here," he coughed and fixed his friend in a serious stare, "You might burn up if you do."

Rather than considering, though, Jack simply shrugged his concerns off, "That would be a change, then, wouldn't it?"

The Doctor leant heavily onto the console. Even breathing was becoming a problem, and he no longer cared whether his message was conveyed properly. "This is not a warning, Jack," he rasped, "it's an offer." As he sluggishly entered far-away coordinates, he made sure for the Tardis to leave his friend back on Earth just this one time.

"I once told you I could not remedy your condition, but that is not entirely true," he explained quietly, "I want you to stay alive with me, but I really don't have the right to be that selfish." Their eyes locked just as the Doctor's body jerked violently enough for him to pull the lever that activated the engine.

"If you ever grow tired of living, my death can kill you too."

His words died in a fit of coughs, his vision was obscured by his own golden glow – and he was grateful to see his shocked friend's silhouette vanishing as the sound of the universe signaled the Tardis reaching a safe spot in orbit at last.

He could take Jack out of his misery, but at a cost.

_And the time had not quite come yet._

_Part 3 - End_

* * *

Oh well, you know where this is going. Thank you for still being with me!


	4. Intermission: Mortgage

This could stand as a one shot, and in spite of the original characters, I rather like it - and I hope, you will, too!

Because both Jack and the Doctor are already quite old here, it stars a (from our point of view) future regeneration of the Doctor. I won't specify his appearance (you can picture him whichever way you like), but I kind of imagined him to be a bit like Ten after all.

Lastly, I just noticed that this has gotten a bit of an American flair thanks to the music I've been listening to even though it's meant to be set somewhere in South England - sorry about that!

In any case, enjoy!

* * *

Part 4 - Intermission  
**Mortgage**

Anno 2025 – Jack, 8578

_Townspeople's points of view: Andrea Hamilton, 40_

"I could have sworn it was here."

Her day had been a long one and she really just wanted to fall asleep right on the spot, but when she found a strangely familiar young man standing on the street next to her home, she suddenly felt absolutely awake again.

This was _him_, or wasn't it?

Their eyes met, and the stranger immediately approached her with a wide grin. "Hello, I'm Jack Harkness," he announced and shook her hand.

Her eyes widened. She numbly introduced herself, but she could not help staring. The same name, the same face…could it be that her grandparents had been telling the truth after all?

He pondered for a moment and briefly glanced at the meadow next to her house. "I just found out that my great great grandfather built a house here, way back in the nineteenth century," he explained and frowned, "You don't happen to know what became of it, do you?"

She took a deep breath to calm her nerves. "The Second World War happened," she replied quietly, "The entire town was razed to the ground. A lot was rebuilt afterwards, but your _grandfather_ didn't bother and just left."

She watched him closely, but he only blinked back in confusion. "So my grandfather actually lived here?" he asked slowly.

"He looked exactly like you," she pointed out. She had always enjoyed her own grandparents' stories of the old times, and she vividly remembered one particular picture. Taken back in 1933, it showed their wedding community and quite perchance, Jack Harkness _was on that picture_.

According to her grandparents, the man had not aged a single day in 22 years. As a matter of fact, if you included her great great grandmother's statements, he had looked exactly the same for 70 years… and potentially even longer. He was a man who would neither age nor die, and her grandparents had often told her of that intriguing person. She had liked the stories, but she had not believed them.

But suddenly, he was standing right in front of her. Clearly, he did not know that she had been told about his agelessness. If he insisted on keeping it a secret, that was alright. But why…did he not know that he had been here eighty years ago?

"My grandfather," Jack offered as a means of explanation, "he did not talk all that much about himself."

Something did not fit into the picture, but she was slowly putting the pieces together. "I can show you photographs, if you'd like," she offered and nodded towards her house. She was not sure how to approach the man, but she felt that incredible urge to get to know him.

He followed her gaze, an indecisive expression on his face.

"Your _grandfather_ and his friend," she added carefully, "my grandparents told me a lot about them."

Suddenly, his eyes lit up. "I don't think I should hear these stories," he replied slowly yet with an almost eager grin, "not yet, anyways."

She looked at him with wide eyes. _Not yet._

In her day and age, when all kinds of strange things were happening thanks to occasional visitors from outer space, she really should not be that surprised to realize it. Jack Harkness was not just an ageless man. He was a _time traveller_. "So you're going there, aren't you?" she stated in quiet resignation. She would have loved to hear more about him, but he had not come to stay – or maybe he had, being oblivious to the destruction of his house. But he would not be able to tell her about her ancestors' lives anyway. _Not yet._

He would get to meet them, he would live a good life in her hometown before she had even known. Ultimately, though, he would see the horrors of war – and he was aware of it.

But judging from the bright grin on his face, he did not mind the price he would have to pay for whatever he was looking forward to so much.

"Andrea," he announced happily and shook her hand once again, much more fiercely this time, "Thank you so much for your help."

Torn between excitement and disappointment, she could not help smiling. "It's been an honour to meet you, Jack," she told him, "Say hello to my grandparents. I really miss them."

* * *

Anno 1923 – 33rd Doctor, 6987 – Jack, 8562

_Townspeople's points of view: Josie Hamilton, 7 (Andrea's grandmother)  
_

She called it the haunted house. Nobody had lived there as long as even her parents could remember, and nobody would live there in the near future. According to some stories, a nobleman had built that house decades ago, only to walk away and never return. Strangely enough, though, that building still belonged to him, or his family at least.

Everybody in town knew that neither he nor his relatives would ever return to the estate. It would stay empty forever.

So why were there two men standing in front of its gates?

Could they be the legendary heirs after all? Or were they investors, or maybe just…homeless? But they didn't look that poor to her, really.

Slowly, quietly, she crept through the hole in the fence to watch them more closely.

"So what is in this house?" the taller man inquired in impatience and pushed the gate experimentally, wincing slightly as it creaked open with a deafening noise, "What could be so pressing you just had to come and drag me out of the most impressive sun storm ever, Jack?"

The man apparently called Jack simply grinned back. "Oh, I've got something far more impressive up my sleeve," he explained good-naturedly as he gestured toward the front doors and cleared his throat, "In there, my dear Doctor, lies the most terrifying adventure both of us might ever face."

Josie frowned in confusion. So this man had come here with his doctor? Was he ill or something?

Meanwhile, Jack had produced a key from his pocket and placed it in his doctor's hand. "You might think it so evil and horrifying it cannot even be named," he explained genially, "But this is the monster ordinary people call a _mortgage_."

During the second it took the key to fall out of his hand and hit the ground, the doctor had paled visibly. "No, Jack," he spoke firmly, "Just _no_."

With that, he turned on his heels, but his friend held him back. "Really, Doctor?" Jack asked with a soft smile. "We are both so old now, and we have experienced so much," he explained, "but the one thing we, or at least I, never did…is settling down. Properly." His smile turned almost sheepish as he scratched the back of his head. "And I'd like to experience _everything _worthwhile before I die."

With a sigh, the doctor turned back to face his friend. "Don't be ridiculous," he replied, "The universe is vast. You can travel forever, and you will always find new things." He looked up at the sky, and he looked _happy _at the sight. "New excitement everywhere, waiting just around the corner."

"That's just it, Doctor," Jack replied with a nod towards the doorstep, "The most thrilling adventure I can think of _does_ lie just around the corner." Both men looked at each other, and the doctor's resolution seemed to waver at last. "You love humans," Jack added after another while of silence, "Why not learn more about them from a first-hand experience? No exploring, no life-threatening adventures, just this once."

A heavy sigh resonated through the garden as the doctor bent down to pick up the key. "Captain Jack Harkness," he declared with a frown that indicated neither joy nor frustration but simple disbelief, "You are a devil."

A few moments later, as they had vanished inside and there was no longer a way for her to spy on them, Josie quickly dashed back through the fence and to her own home.

She was finally getting neighbours, and they looked nice enough.

But she knew the horrible state that house was in, for she and her friends had played there very often in the past. And, well, if time had not taken its toll on the estate, their games certainly had.

For some reason, she wanted these two men to stay, and she certainly could not risk them changing their mind because of her own carelessness.

Thus, she quickly grabbed the carrot cake she had baked earlier and jogged back to the hopefully not so haunted house. This time, she took the official gate and knocked loudly on the door.

As the voices inside died down and a moment later, she found herself face to face with a positively surprised doctor. She gulped down her sudden anxiety and all but shoved the cake into his hand. "Hello, I'm your new neighbour," she rambled and looked to the ground, "and I'm really sorry for breaking your windows."

The doctor's eyebrow went up and her blush intensified. "And for the drawings on the walls."

Jack peeked around the corner, and she lowered her head even further. "And I also let some kitties live in the basement."

Suddenly, Jack began laughing, and so did the doctor.

"I'll help you with the repairs!" Josie promised quickly, and the doctor crouched down in front of her. "You know, if there's anything I like even more than fresh air and modern art," he announced with a grin, "it's _cats and carrot cake_."

Finally, she allowed herself to smile back. Her small town had just gained a new pair of residents that day, and she was really looking forward to getting to know them.

* * *

Anno 1923 – 33rd Doctor, 6988 – Jack, 8562

_Townspeople's points of view: Brian Hamilton, 33 (Josie's father)_

Every year on the first weekend of August, his mother invited the whole neighbourhood to a grand barbeque in her garden. She was not particularly young anymore, but she still did her best to make this one day a year perfect for everyone.

And it was as nice an event as always.

The children were playing in the front yard, his wife was having a good time discussing shoes with her friends, and Brian himself, well, he leant back in his chair with a beer in his hand and just enjoyed the nice atmosphere of a happy summer evening under the stars.

"It's a good life, isn't it?" he heard someone say next to him, "Being all…domestic."

It was a question rather than a statement, and he turned his head to find John Smith sitting down next to him with a slightly troubled expression. "Of course it is," Brian replied, "a family's a lot of work, but absolutely worth it." He had listened to his wife and daughter talking about Jack Harkness and John Smith quite often, but with his job keeping him busy, he himself had only rarely spoken to either man thus far. He had been, and admittedly still was, slightly bewildered by their sudden arrival, so maybe this was a good chance to finally find out who exactly was living next-door, "What's bothering you?"

Their eyes met, and John grimaced. "Nothing, that's just it," he admitted and resumed looking at the lively yard, "everything's so peaceful you could almost get used to it. And in a way, that's really frightening."

_Of course_. Brian realized it now. It had only been five years since the war. He had somehow survived, and so had his new neighbours. But unlike him, they had not been lucky enough to return to find their families alive and breathing. "We should just make the best of it, John," he offered quietly, "most of us barely escaped death, and that's exactly why we need to enjoy the future we fought so hard for."

"With burgers and beer, eh?" John cracked a grin.

"With burgers, beer and some good company," Brian corrected him and nodded towards the apple tree where he had noted his mother and Jack conversing for nearly an hour already, "She's always been a kind soul, but I haven't seen her this happy since my father died."

John followed his gaze and smiled softly. "He has that effect on people."

* * *

Anno 1926 – 33rd Doctor, 6991 – Jack, 8565

_Townspeople's points of view: George Swift, 16_

He hated his teacher.

That week, they had had no physics lessons. Instead, Mister Smith had decided to take them on a small field trip to a hill on the outskirts of town. In the middle of the night.

Admittedly, the view was great. With no clouds blocking the sight at all, they stood under a dark sky full of stars and could watch the entire town from there.

"So what are we doing here today?" Mister Smith began mysteriously, "What's out here that will teach us more than textbooks and boring calculations?" He walked around for a moment and finally threw his hands in the air. "Well, _everything's_ here."

Just like his classmates, George frowned. What the hell?

"This time, I haven't brought any gadgets or prepared any special effects," his teacher explained as he sat down on a rock, "because I want you to see the world around you. For half an hour, just take the time to watch the world."

For a moment, the nightly calm was shattered by disbelieving murmurs, and yet everybody took a seat after all. Only when the silence returned did Mister Smith continue in a very quiet voice. "Right now, we're sitting on a small hill in a town of a large country on an even bigger planet. However, even that planet is only a grain of sand amidst the vast desert of the universe." He looked up, and he smiled, "But even though we are just so tiny, so small in comparison to the whole, we can do _so much_."

"Mankind has already reached a lot. We live in convenient homes in well-organized cities, we can travel anywhere on the planet and we even managed to transmit information through the air. Altogether, we studied the laws of physics and applied that knowledge to fit our needs. But it doesn't end there." He leant back and pointed towards the sky once again.

Just for a few seconds, a shooting star shone brightly.

The few girls in the class were awestruck, but even the boys were surprised at the timing.

"Admittedly, I did prepare that special effect, if predicting an event counts as such," Mister Smith laughed. "Science can do that. In understanding the world, in learning about it, so much becomes possible. We're still only at the beginning, but mankind will advance so very quickly, and one day, we might as well walk among the stars." He lowered his gaze to look at his students again, "The future is full of possibilities, and all of you are part of it. No matter whether you choose to become politicians, engineers, salesmen or soldiers, always remember that it's not the world defining you…but the other way around. It's exactly as grand a place as you shape it to become."

With a soft sigh, Mister Smith looked back at the stars. His speech was over, but nobody chose to chatter. Somehow, he had won them over; every single student was inspecting their surroundings, pondering the world and their own decisions.

Even George found himself strangely inspired, and he once again convinced himself of how much he disliked his teacher.

Not because he was as boring and ignorant as the rest of his school's staff, but because he was the complete opposite.

* * *

Anno 1935 – 33rd Doctor, 7000 – Jack, 8574

_Townspeople's points of view: Josie Hamilton, 19_

"You still look like the day I met you," she commented amiably as she handed John his birthday present and pulled him into a hug, "I can't believe you're forty years old now."

"And I can't believe somebody planned a surprise party," he laughed with a playful glare in Jack's direction.

"You're never too old to party," his friend grinned as he approached them.

"But really," John drawled, "when did I tell you my age?"

Josie frowned. What kind of question was that? He was not already hitting his midlife crisis if he got touchy about his age, was he?

But Jack didn't seem to mind the question in the slightest, "I got you drunk last Christmas, remember?"

While slightly troubled, John rolled his eyes, "Unfortunately, I do."

"As we're already at it, you also mentioned stopping by Cardiff sometime soon," Jack added thoughtfully.

John grimaced, "We definitely need to do that within the next four years. The engine's using up a lot of power."

Just as it often happened when she was listening to their talks, Josie was lost for a moment. "What engine, if I may ask?" she wondered aloud, "And haven't you just been to Cardiff, Jack?"

Two pairs of eyes focused on her, confusing her even more. "You know how Camilla moved there recently, don't you? I was visiting for her wedding when I ran into you, but you simply asked me, 'Do you know where the Doctor is?' and ran off when I didn't."

Jack still didn't seem to remember and frowned, "I…did that a lot back then, actually. Sorry if I didn't recognize you, I was kind of…desperate."

She arched an eyebrow. That was new. Her friend was a mysterious person, but she had rarely ever witnessed him in a bad mood. "Desperate?" she asked, concerned, "What happened?"

Jack took a deep breath and sent her an apologetic glance. "That's a long story for another day," he explained without saying anything, "Basically, there were those giant rats on the loose. I would have been able to defend myself if I'd had some of the Doctor's infamous stony waffles to defend myself, but alas, I didn't."

The two men looked at each other.

"Jack," John arched an eyebrow in warning.

"They're edible waffles of mass destruction, Doctor," Jack replied sheepishly, "How brilliant an idea is that?"

Josie smiled at their quarrel, but she was bit disappointed. She had always liked Jack's funny tales when she was younger, but just then, she would have preferred the truth. Maybe, just maybe, though, she could use the occasion to get another question answered. "Why does Jack sometimes call you Doctor, anyway?" she asked the taller man, "You're a teacher, aren't you? Not a doctor."

Quite obviously, that question caught her neighbour off guard. "A doctor is someone who helps people," he explained at last, "And I like doing that."

She could not entirely follow, but his explanation sounded reasonable enough. "So you really just call yourself doctor without being one?" she concluded thoughtfully, and she really did not see why Jack would laugh so hard at that conclusion.

"Obviously you can be one if you wish hard enough for it," he agreed cheerfully, "Actual titles are overrated, really." Jack kept laughing, but John looked scandalized, "You're one to talk, _Captain_."

* * *

Anno 1940 – Doctor, 7005 (33) – Jack, 8567

_Townspeople's point of view: Josie Hamilton, 24_

It was over.

The war had parted them all, but she had never expected…this.

Working as a telegrapher in the shelter beyond the hills had saved her life…because last night's bombing had not left a single house standing.

Soldiers were bristling about, checking the debris for unexploded bombs while searching for survivors, but they had not found anyone yet.

But she could still hope. Everything had come so suddenly, so unexpectedly, that nobody had managed evacuating the civilians in time, and yet…there had been no corpses yet. Whatever that meant, maybe somebody had survived.

Numbly, she walked to the sad remains of her home. Her parents had taken care of her husband after he had nearly lost a leg in the first months of the war. She knew for a fact that they had been in the house last night…and if she was unlucky enough, the soldier she could hear searching through the debris would find their corpses any moment.

A loud sob escaped her as she dropped to her knees.  
Why her family? Why her town?

The tears ran freely down her face.

When had the whole world gone mad enough to produce such horrors?

And…

What was she supposed to do now?

She heard footfalls approaching her, but she only recognized the newcomer when he gently pulled her to her feet. John had been looking horrible for a long time, but she had rarely ever seen him this pale. As soon as the war had started, he had begun saving lives in the hospital. Even though he held, strangely enough, no official qualifications, he had turned out to be a very skilled physician.

She had only found out when he had returned her husband to her, alive and recovering.

"You have no idea how good it is to see you," she cried into his shoulder, "Everyone's gone, and…oh god, please tell me you know where they are."

As he hugged her back, he whispered into her ear what she desperately wanted to hear, "They're safe, Josie."

Her eyes widened and she stepped back quickly to look at his face. But he still seemed neither happy nor sad, just…tired. "I was at the sick bay in the shelter when the assault started," he explained dryly and turned to look at the debris that had once been his home, "but Jack…was here."

Her face fell, just as her heart did. "But…" she whispered, "you just said that everyone was safe…"

Their eyes met briefly, but then John turned away and walked towards the debris. "We've always been afraid that our mere presence in this town might attract the wrong kind of attention," he explained as he pulled a strange pen out of his pocket, "In case anything happened, all humanoid life within a radius of ten miles would be transported to a safe place."

She trailed after him, confused at both his words and the strange device that beeped every once in a while as if it was detecting something. "That is, all humanoid life except for Jack," he added tonelessly, "because he was supposed to be the one to bring everyone back eventually." Finally, the beeping led them to a spot that didn't look any less damaged than the rest of the estate. Pocketing the device again, John looked back at Josie. "I don't understand a word you are saying," she admitted with tearful eyes.

Finally, and for the first time that day, she saw his features softening. "As soon as Jack's safe, I'll get you back to your family."

* * *

She did not even bother asking how John could have an almost complete set of sterile medical equipment in his pockets as she watched him suturing the most prominent gash on his friend's body.

They had found Jack underneath what had been a windowsill. An entire floor had collapsed on top of him and…she doubted he would wake up again.

As a matter of fact…he had not been breathing when they had pulled him out of the debris.

She had told John, but he had not wanted to listen. He was busily doing what little could be done for his friend, but…that would not bring him back to life.

All the while, Josie sat quietly next to them.

Jack and John, they had always been kind, helpful and great in any way she looked at it. She had admired them ever since she had first met them…and watching John despairing over his friend's dead body broke her heart.

He didn't show it, though. He quietly kept on working, exhausted yet determined. As he was blatantly ignoring his friend's death, she realized that the death that had been surrounding him for a year now had gotten to him without her even noticing.

John had grown delusional.

A silent tear ran down her cheek as she realized that the hope he had given her earlier was nothing but a worthless promise. He might have made himself believe everyone to be safe, yet she had to face the truth.

There was no device that could miraculously save a whole town.

She sobbed loudly this time, and John looked up to meet her eyes.

Finally, he put aside scalpel and acus as he stepped around the makeshift table to lay a hand on her shoulder. "Just a little more patience," he whispered and walked away again. She sniffed, but did not move an inch. Whatever he hoped to find in the debris, she no longer had it in her to help him.

Maybe he was just doing it right. Telling yourself everything would be fine could not possibly be quite as painful as the horrible despair slowly creeping over her.

She buried her face in her hands and wept.

The war was far from over, yet she had already lost everything.

Everything she had ever wanted.

Everything she held dear.

But then, ten minutes later, something strange happened.

In front of her very eyes, Jack jerked back to life. He recovered disturbingly quickly, and was back on his feet before even she dared moving again. After only some minutes he was back at her side again, handing her a strange sheet of paper with a soft smile.

She was confused at first, but when she realized he had somehow retrieved a copy of her wedding photograph from all the debris... she finally realized that maybe, just maybe there was still hope after all.

* * *

Anno 1945 – 33rd Doctor, 7005 – Jack, 8567

_Townspeople's point of view: Carl Hamilton, 24 (Josie's husband)  
_

"Torchwood will be here soon enough, so just…tell them you don't know what happened."

He awoke with a start.

The last thing he remembered was a nightmare that had come true. The aircrafts had arrived, and bombs were falling, and then…then what?

"We could have avoided them if we had just rematerialized everyone back in 1940, but I hope you don't mind skipping some years. The course of the war is something even we can't influence, yet at the very least this way, we could protect you from these horrors."

They had been _protected_, then? Carl frowned in disbelief, but then again...He was alive, wasn't he? And thankfully, his wife had somehow survived, as well. He slowly sat up and glanced toward the far end of the hall where she was talking to their neighbours.

"You saved us," Josie insisted in agitation, "Why would you need to leave _now_?"

"Because it's time," John replied matter-of-factly.

"It's been time for quite a while, but we've grown rather fond of this town, hence the safety mechanism," Jack added with a soft smile, "It's been good with you guys, so _thank you_."

Carl did not understand what was going on, why his neighbours were saying goodbye, or why the blue doors they left through vanished a moment later along with a strange sound.

But that did not matter all that much, because his wife was _alive_ and approached him with a wide smile. "Everything's alright now," she whispered into his ear as she hugged him tightly, "everyone survived the bombing, but what's even better…" She sobbed softly. "The war is over at last."

Part 4 - End


	5. Exhaustion

Finally the final chapter!

* * *

**Part 5**

**Exhaustion**

Anno 2008 - Tenth Doctor, 7106 - Jack, 19054  
(Between Torchwood Seasons 1 and 2, that is, while the "first" Jack is touring the universe with the Doctor and Martha)

"Where the hell have you been!"

Jack could not help smiling as one Gwen Cooper caught him in an angry hug, "we've been looking for you for _hours_!"

"Oh, you know me," he replied sheepishly, "been here, done that." As his eyes travelled from one of his former team mates to the other, nostalgia washed over him more forcefully than ever.

His gaze finally rested on Ianto, and his heart skipped a beat. He gently pushed Gwen away to approach his former lover. Ianto's expression was a stern one, and as Jack pulled him into a fierce, desperate embrace, he was no longer sure if this had been a good idea.

After his peculiar journey to the beginning of the universe, Jack had returned to 2009 and discovered an amnesic yet so very alive Ianto wandering the streets of London. They had stayed together as a couple for another twenty years before death had parted them yet again.

Jack had seen his lover perish twice, but here he was, holding him in his arms once more – smelling his scent, feeling his heartbeat, listening to his voice, "It's good to have you back, sir."

_…sir._

It was a simple word that brought him back to reality – this Ianto, the only Ianto he could meet up with because Jack's own younger self had run off for the Doctor, was not _his_ Ianto yet.

His heart broke as he pulled away at last. "It's good to _be_ back, guys," he grinned and turned to face his team with the playful mask he had already worn back then, "What happened while I was away?"

He was perfectly aware of his acting skills not fooling anyone in that particular moment. They knew something was wrong, they knew that _something_ had happened to him during those few hours, but he would not bother telling them _what_.

They did not yet need to know that five hours could equal half an eternity.

Their mere presence made his heart ache in regret and nostalgia, but for one, shiny moment, he knew that that beautiful frown adorning Ianto's face in that moment was _worth _ripping open wounds that had been closed for thousands of years.

* * *

Every time Jack had met him, the Doctor had been in a hurry – to get somewhere, to explore something, or to save the world once again. It had been fun, but he had often wondered about his friend's mad dash through time and space.

If you have a time machine, you simply _do not need_ to hurry.

It had taken Jack centuries to understand why his friend was always on the run.

The Doctor had never been in a hurry to _get_ somewhere…but to leave the past behind.

In the course of his own long life, Jack had begun living by that philosophy as well. He had often met people from his past – people from so long ago that he could hardly remember anything about them but a strange, nostalgic aftertaste. He had found out what his actions and decisions had caused. Admittedly, he had only rarely faced truly horrible consequences, but he had always found himself flung back into a past he could never return to.

…just like this time.

And that simple realization pained him more than countless deaths had.

He spent several weeks with his old team, pretending not to know the fates that would befall them so very soon. He was acting the part of a man he no longer was, and in that sense, he could as well try impersonating anybody else, really.

"Tell me what's wrong, Jack."

Shaken out of his reverie, the immortal was surprised to find the reason of his bittersweet mood swings entering his office. "You used to be better at hiding your emotions," Ianto commented with a gentle smile as he sat down opposite from Jack, "either that, or whatever had you missing was something you should really talk to me about."

Caught red-handed, Jack leant back and ran a hand through his hair. The man in front of him might not be _his_ Ianto, but he was _close_. Wonderful, observant Ianto, always there to steady him. "You have a grey hair, Jack," his friend remarked quietly.

Their eyes meeting was all it needed for Jack to sigh in resignation. But when he opened his mouth, his voice failed him at first. "…I forgot," he brought out at last. Two words, and they meant so much.

Leaning forward, Ianto gently reached for Jack's hand, "Forgot what?"

"I could have saved them," the immortal replied tonelessly, "We had set up everything, and all I had to do was pressing a button at the right time." To him, much time had passed since that fateful day on planet Kelt, but that did not make the experience any less real, and maybe, it summarized his own situation quite adequately. "I started wondering what true death would feel like, and…" He gulped. "…and I never pressed that button," he spoke shakily and grit his teeth, "A world burned in front of my eyes, _because of me_, and in that moment I was neither shocked nor sorry…I envied them."

Ianto's eyes had widened, and Jack smiled back at him tiredly. "That's the sort of monster I am," he whispered, "I forgot to value life."

"I cannot even begin to understand," Ianto admitted quietly as he pulled Jack into a comforting embrace, "but I am here. _For you._"

The immortal closed his eyes and allowed himself to relax for once.

Ianto would only stay his for few more weeks.

What was Jack to do then?

* * *

"That's a Silurian warhead," Jack explained with a frown and glanced back at the newspaper, "Just disassemble it and we're done. Besides, we can build neat new stuff from that."

Toshiko arched an eyebrow. "I figured that much," she pointed out impatiently, "But _how exactly_ are we supposed to disassemble an alien warhead that's about to explode any moment?"

Jack frowned back at her, but got up at last. Of course, he had never gotten around to explaining his team how to act in such a situation. As a matter of fact, he had not even known the first time around.

Maybe that was the reason he had remembered his Torchwood time as such an adventurous one. He was thousands of years of experiences older now, and rarely anything ever managed truly exciting him anymore.

His crew urged him to the platform the bomb was stored at, and he was mildly surprised to see there was a whole ten minutes left for him to do his magic. "Time to disco, eh," he muttered and set to work.

Altogether, it took him three minutes to deactivate the bomb and another four to dismantle it. As he leant back to stretch from another task finished successfully, his team stood speechless.

"I've never seen anybody disarming a nuclear warhead quite as leisurely," Toshiko commented at last.

"I just know what I'm doing," Jack grinned and tried to ignore the traitorous thoughts crossing his mind. He had developed a certain routine at this because he had saved people so many times from explosions – not because this was just a game to him. Admittedly, if you looked at it from an objective point of view, this would not kill him either way. In the course of his long life, he had seen many friends come and go. But the comparatively short time he got to spend with humans did by no means imply that he would carelessly jeopardize their lives.

Especially not the lives of these precious people that had once, so very long ago, shown him how to value his own existence.

A clap shook him out of his brooding.

"Now, with the good deed of the day done," Gwen announced just a bit more enthusiastically than necessary, "how about some pizza?" With that, she produced a stack of cardboard boxes seemingly out of nowhere and g_rinned._

* * *

"So there I was, stranded on a tropical island with nothing but a gun and a palm tree," Jack stated with a good-natured grin, "and I was desperate enough to ride a pair of turtles home."

Toshiko arched an eyebrow. "Sounds awfully familiar," she smiled, "I do seem to remember the story from another Captain Jack."

He shrugged and reached another slice of pizza. "Well, that Jack got that story from my biography, then," he replied with a sheepish grin.

Suddenly, Gwen snorted into her drink. "You mean the story where you really lay drunken on the beach for weeks until some smugglers saved you?" she inquired, laughing.

Jack joined in with a chuckle of his own, "That's me, alright."

Everyone shared a laugh as Gwen reached for the final pizza. When she opened the box, however, her eyes widened.

Jack noted her reaction with a worried frown, but when their gazes met, she started grinning once again. "_'Dear Jack, if you ever feel like calling it a day, come around to join me'_," she read and arched an eyebrow at her boss, "There's even a cute little heart at the end, and some charming doodles. You seem to have left quite an impression."

As he reached for the box to examine the message for himself, Jack smirked at Ianto. He had been the one to place the order after all, hadn't he? But his lover's unhappy expression told him otherwise.

Slightly confused, Jack frowned at the cardboard.

His eyes widened.

What Gwen had identified as doodles were, in fact, space-time coordinates…and, oh God…

"Guys, we've got a problem!"

Everyone's heads turned to the door where Owen stood panting. "The other artefacts we found at the site," he explained hastily, "they indicate an invasion within the next twelve hours."

"What?" Jack exclaimed and jumped to his feet, much like the rest of the team, "How?"

Grimacing, Owen buried his hands into his pockets. "That's what I'd like to know," he grumbled as he led the way to the lab, "_how the hell_ does the delivery boy know _anything_ about outer space?"

Jack's heart skipped a beat when he caught sight of him; brooding over a large fragment, he was wearing glasses and pinstripes.

The Doctor.

"I'm really not a boy anymore," the time lord replied and met Jack's eyes with a grin, "but at least I'm not the oldest man in the room."

Not minding the slight jab in the slightest, the immortal strode over and pulled his dear friend into a tight hug. He did not fail to notice that the Doctor felt unusually cold thanks to the horrible weather outside, but his mere presence managed warming his heart nonetheless. "It's good to see you," he whispered with a smile and pulled away at last.

"You didn't phone for some two hundred years," the time lord commented with an arched eyebrow, and Jack frowned back. "Neither did you," he pointed out and grinned. They had taken on travelling together sometimes and sometimes not, and that was absolutely alright. Both had their freedoms that way, but they were never _alone_. In some idiotically romantic sense, they had no longer needed each other's immediate proximity to know the other was _there_.

But…

Just as all the other times, Jack had…not truly realized how much he had missed the time lord until this very moment.

He took a deep breath to calm down his nerves. Everyone's questioning gazes were on him anyway, so he turned around for introductions. "Guys, this is a really good friend of mine," he announced with a half-faked smile, "I've known him for practically all my life and he's –"

"Oh my god," Gwen interrupted him and staring at the Doctor, "You're Jack's secret pizza box admirer!"

The Doctor chuckled lightly, "I'm his doctor, actually." A slight frown grew on his features as he explained, "I really just wanted to drop by for the message and be off on my merry way, but then I found these inscriptions." He all but glared at the stone fragment in his hands and abruptly looked back at Jack. "And I really should be going." With a final nod toward the crew, he placed the stone on the table and strode out of the room, only to be held back by his friend in the hallway. "What the hell are you doing?" Jack demanded, "Is this some fixed point in time? Is something terrible going to happen?" He hesitated before adding more critically, "…because I don't quite think anything I've never heard about happened in 2008."

The Doctor met his gaze evenly, and he looked _sorry_. "I'd like to say that I just stumbled upon these inscriptions and they don't mean anything because whatever threat is coming doesn't quite make it here," he expounded quietly, "but I'm afraid this new turn of events came to be because I chose to meet you here."

Jack took a deep breath and set off towards his office with his grip on the Doctor's cool wrist firm enough to urge his friend along. "It doesn't matter whether you caused it or not if we can stop it in time," he ground out as he sat the time lord down and closed the door behind them, "So _explain_."

Watching his friend ever so carefully, the Doctor heaved a sigh. "Most sufficiently receptive species noticed that there was…" He hesitated ever so slightly, "…a crack in time, so to speak."

Jack arched an eyebrow, "and it leads here? Where from?"

The Doctor grimaced. "From the end of the universe," he explained and tilted his head, "But that's beside the point, don't worry about it. The rift will close soon enough." He ran a hand through his hair and looked at Jack, "The real problem is that it attracts the attention of others who take it as, well, advertisement. _This place is no longer defended, _it says_._"

"But it is," the immortal pointed out angrily, "Why would they think otherwise?"

The Doctor looked at Jack, and his eyes looked incredibly tired in that moment. "I'll just have to prove them that it is," he explained and got up, "Just this one more time."

Jack frowned back, and he tried to ignore the shiver that was running down his spine. "That's what these coordinates are about, isn't it?" he asked quietly, "You're dying for real, and you know when and where."

The Doctor simply smiled at him. "I'm not dying, Jack," he assured him and pulled his friend into a hug before whispering into his ear, "I'm way past that stage already." His voice dropped even further. "There's nothing left of the Doctor that can count as properly alive," he explained quietly, "Even this me is nothing but an afterthought manifested for convenience."

Jack's eyes widened.

So this was it?

This?

The Doctor had gone, and he had left him with nothing but a telegram?

Just as he finally understood why the time lords's touch felt so incredibly chilly, Jack's own heart froze. "Stop joking," he laughed nervously as he gripped the cool torso in his arms even more tightly, "You can't die," he demanded, "not just like that, and not without me."

"I'm not leaving you behind," the Doctor clarified and hugged back, "I'm leaving _with you_."

Jack's heart was beating so loudly barely anything else registered with his mind. For several minutes, they stood in silence with Jack clinging to the Doctor like a life line.

"I'm here because I made a promise to you," the time lord finally offered quietly, "I asked the universe when and where you would be tired enough for me to invite you over, and I must admit, I was surprised to find you with your old crew again."

Finally, Jack stepped back again and watched his friend tiredly, "You think this is a good-bye tour?" Deep down, he knew it to be true, to some extent at least. He was exhausted, but…he had never dared thinking on, because _this_ had never been an option to begin with.

"You can take all the time you need," the Doctor replied gently, "but I already know you're coming."

Their eyes met, and something strange happened. Jack's breathing quickened as his heart beat rapidly within his chest, and he realized then that he was…excited again. "The last big adventure, eh," he drawled, and he grabbed the Doctor's hand with a smile, "But we've first got to stop an invasion, don't we?" He walked to the room's exit, yet the time lord didn't budge. "This is my responsibility," the Doctor pointed out in a deliberately slow manner, "I can deal with this alone."

Jack stared at him in disbelief. "We're way past this," he clarified, "whatever the problem, it's neither mine nor yours, it's _ours_."

While a bit startled, the Doctor smiled at last. "Do you want to come because of the necessity," he enquired carefully, "…or because of the adventure?"

Jack frowned, but the question was easily answered, "Because of the old times."

* * *

Anno 2008 - Tenth Doctor, 7106 - Jack, 19054

_The Daleks' collective point of view_

The universe was theirs.

Finally, and after countless battles, there was no race left within the realm that could become a threat to the almighty Daleks.

"We shall celebrate this day by means of destruction!" their leader announced merrily, "Planet Earth shall fall!"

Cheers and ovations roamed through the entire spacecraft, and the commander moved forward. "Launch the attack!" he ordered at the top of his voice, "Kill every single human!"

Another round of cheers echoed through the room as the troops began descending onto the planet. It would be a grand spectacle. All their pent-up hatred and fear would finally find their ultimate release. Revenge was theirs, and it would be _sweet_.

"I really don't think you should do that."

Everyone's attention turned to the two people appearing in the teleporter.

That voice, that appearance, that incredibly associated hatred. He looked like the Doctor, but he did not feel the same.

_And it could not be._

"Now everybody listen up," their arch-enemy's immortal pupil shouted as he stepped forward, "We know you hate us, and we know that you want to destroy us, but if you even try, you will _pay dearly_." He raised a quantum bomb for everyone to see and glared around the hall, "So take this warning and leave before it's too late."

Honestly, it was a hilarious threat. They would have stopped the puny human before he could even try triggering the detonation, and yet the Daleks felt confused just the tiniest little bit. "Your weapons do not intimidate us," their leader announced, "Earth is lost to you."

As the words were still ringing through the air and the soldiers kept descending, the curious copy of their hated enemy stepped forward at last. "It is as he says, though," he declared and met their leader's stare evenly, "We're not afraid of you, either. This visit is a _warning_ and you should really heed it."

Infamy! Several Daleks approached the duo to render any attempts of escape useless. Whoever dared defying them would not go unscathed, especially if they relied on cheap tricks like these. "Your poor disguise does not fool us," the leader pointed out as he examined the faux time lord that dared blemishing their ultimate victory, "The Doctor burned with the heat of the a thousand suns, and the whole universe is celebrating."

The copy rolled his eyes, but his puny immortal friend started shaking. Suddenly, he pulled an energy gun and aimed at their leader, his eyes full of undisguised despair. "Tell me who did this," he ground out through gritted teeth, "and I won't make you die _with the pain of a thousand deaths_."

The Daleks enjoyed the human's emotional display greatly, but they would not tolerate him threatening their leader. Surprisingly, however, they did not need to take any measures, for it was the Doctor's lookalike that convinced the man of the futility of an assault. "It's alright, Jack," he whispered as he gently pushed the immortal's arm down again, "we just came to chat, remember?" Both men looked at each other, one terrified, the other apologetic. Finally, the copy addressed the Daleks again. "You're right, though, I'm just residue left to take care of unfinished business," he announced with a shrug, "So what about fulfilling a dead man's last wish?"

"Daleks hold no respect for the dead," the Daleks' commander replied nonchalantly, "I shall destroy the last remains of the Oncoming Storm." He raised his gun arm and shot the copy. The immortal had no time to jump between them, but strangely enough, the faux Doctor stood smiling.

Finally, their leader realized that his gun had malfunctioned. Rather than a ray of energy…a flower hat left his gun arm. "What have you done!" he demanded angrily as a primal sense of fear started flooding their race's collective consciousness.

The smile on the faux Doctor's face only widened. "All over the planet, Daleks are offering flowers to humans," he told them brilliantly, "I think this is a perfect last message, don't you agree?" Ever so casually, he strolled through the hall with his hands in his pockets. They knew he was not real, but every single Dalek he approached still backed away in fear. "The thing is, you really shouldn't have gotten rid of me the way you did," he explicated with a sigh, "Creation itself absorbed my consciousness and, well…" He plucked the flower from the leader's arm and suddenly held three of them in his hand, "Now I can do whatever I want."

Collective fear turned into shared terror, and the Daleks backed away. Only their leader did not…for his movement was restricted by an unknown, terrifying force.

"But if it's any consolidation," the copy that had become more fearsome than the original went on, "you wouldn't even exist if I truly wanted you out of the way."

The Doctor approached the leader, and their feral fear intensified. "I love the whole of creation," he hummed and _patted_ the Dalek's head almost affectionately, "and even a hateful race like yours is beautiful in its own way." That simple sentence was enough to replace terror with angry resignation.

"I would ask of you not to harm what's been important to me," the Doctor added as he returned to his despairing friend's side, "but you really have no choice in the matter anyway."

They continued to watch in seething silence as the time lord's residue offered the flowers to the human and pulled him into a hug before teleporting off the spacecraft at last.

The superior Dalek race had lost the war by winning it, and their hatred for the Doctor had never been greater.

* * *

Anno 102 043 152 732 209 - 41st Doctor, 7105 - Jack, 19054  
(To the Doctor before, to Jack after the first part of this chapter)

_The Doctor's point of view_

The end of the universe felt like a strangely suitable destination. However, he had not chosen it for the metaphor – but rather because he stood no other choice anyway.

They had experienced the eerie, foreboding atmosphere of everything ending before. The last time they had travelled to this particular era, they had met the last survivors of humanity, along with one of the last time lords, on a planet far away from the one the Tardis had taken them now.

But that did not mean that their current location was entirely unfamiliar to them; as a matter of fact, a hundred trillion years had barely left any traces on the scenery.

"_And here, poor fool, I stand once more, no wiser than I was before._"

They stood on a depressing wasteland of a planet under a starless sky. The only lighting was provided by the stratosphere glowing in a faint red, but that did not exactly lift the general mood. And yet, for some reason, the Doctor was humming to himself as he strolled off in a random direction.

Next to him, his ever so faithful companion strode, and he was arching an eyebrow. "Goethe?" he asked, "Haven't heard that in quite a while."

The Doctor grinned, "Do you recognize it?" He walked towards a nearby cliff and looked at the dead landscape below. Sure enough, the remains of a lake that had dried out long ago could still be seen quite clearly. A number of intricate patterns formed what had been its coastline, indicating that it had not quite developed by usual means. Back then, when it had still been filled with water and strange, impossible animals, the Doctor had seen that fractal lake before, and so had Jack.

"Are you serious?" the immortal breathed in wonder as he finally recognized the place they were on, "This place…we never wanted to return here."

With a smile, the Doctor reached for his friend's hand and pulled him in the other direction. "Don't worry," he assured him, "I'm not going to trigger random events this time." He imagined a palm tree, and was relieved _not_ to see it appearing in front of them. "As a matter of fact, I can't," he added light-heartedly and tasted the air, "That strange atmosphere seems to have worn off some trillion years ago." He had figured out the truth about the first planet in the universe quite a while ago, but that didn't mean he was not somehow relieved to find his assumptions confirmed.

"I really didn't expect this," Jack admitted quietly, "The first planet in universe being the last one as well." He gulped. "And nothing changed at all."

Turning on his heels, the Doctor grinned at his friend, "That's the point of it, isn't it?" He suddenly noticed in dismay how he had somehow lost his grip on the immortal's wrist and quickly reached for it with his other hand. _Soon._

"I'm really glad you came," he stated at last, watching his friend very carefully.

"I'm glad you remembered," Jack replied softly.

With a laugh, the Doctor started walking again. "I did, didn't I?" he agreed and found his theory confirmed once again, "How have you been?" He already suspected his friend was not going too well right then. For all of this to work, the Doctor would have to send Jack some kind of message through time and space, and obviously, he had, or will have, succeeded in doing so. And if he did it right, he would chose some proper timing at the very least.

While slightly surprised, Jack replied with a smile, "Saying goodbye wasn't easy, but it was long overdue." The Doctor's eyes showed nothing but understanding, and Jack added softly, "How about you?"

As they climbed a small hill, the Doctor's grip on his friend had loosened again, and he was grateful to find Jack holding onto him extra tightly this time. "You already know anyway, don't you?" he pondered tiredly, "It's really just a toxin developed exclusively for me." He no longer felt his friend's hand and had to take an actual look at it to make sure he was still there. "It shuts down one's nervous system bit by bit while rendering regeneration impossible." He could probably have found a way around this; he could probably have cheated death again, just like so many times before. But he had not wanted to, because he had found the one answer he had been looking for all along.

Deciding this place was as good as any other, he sighed softly and sat down. "It's a nice view, isn't it?" he hummed as he watched Jack joining him.

"I like the mountains," the immortal replied good-naturedly, "eerily symmetric, just like the whole idea of this place."

So Jack understood, at least to a certain extent. With a smile, the Doctor leant against his friend. "You know, I actually got a doctorate some decades ago," he chattered as he watched the starless sky, "mostly because you've always been teasing me about it."

He felt Jack chuckling ever so lightly. "I never thought I'd live to see the day," he replied pleasantly, "So you're a real doctor now?" Pondering shortly, he added, "Or, you know, a scientific one?"

"Astrophysics, Jack," the time lord replied with a sigh. His breathing didn't work right, but he didn't mind. At least he didn't feel the pain. "Mankind kept speculating on the end of the universe, even in the 81st century," he reminisced, "Of course they had no way of knowing that the dark matter would one day decrease in mass, but they had always been guessing that this could cause the universe ending as a massive black hole. Some went as far as to assume that matter would condense enough for a new big bang to take place." He smiled softly. "The end of the universe would be the birth of another," he mused, "it's so human a thought, so incredibly romantic. Whatever happened, there would never be an actual end to anything. Of course they didn't know any better, and in a way, they were right." He wanted to enjoy the beauty of the moment, but the starless sky held no real comfort. Soon, though, it would be filled with beauty once again. Soon.

"I once heard of a mad scientist proposing that the end of the universe might have been its own beginning," Jack commented dryly as he lowered the Doctor's increasingly limp body into a more comfortable position on his lap, "I should have expected that to be your doing."

Noting quite gratefully how much he enjoyed simply seeing his friend, the Doctor chuckled at his words. "It caused quite an uproar," he agreed, "But my arguments were so good they could not outright deny the theory."

"You cheated, though," Jack pointed out as he brushed a strand of hair out of the time lord's face, "You called it a hypothesis, but you already knew it to be true by then."

The Doctor smiled, and so did Jack. For a long while, they simply sat together in silence, both strangely _content_.

They had spent millennia fighting, struggling, finding and losing friends and lovers all too quickly. Neither regretted anything, though. It had been a good life.

And now that he had stopped running, the Doctor finally allowed himself to appreciate its sheer _beauty_. He remembered all the exciting adventures he had experienced, all the wonderful things he had seen. But he did not need to remember the greatest miracle of them all, for it was right next to him, holding him gently as he leant down to place a soft kiss on the Doctor's lips.

The gift of life that had both blessed and tortured the immortal throughout his existence left him at last.

For a second, the golden glow surrounded them both. Finally, Jack sat up once more, a peaceful smile adorning his face. The Doctor's insides started burning from the sheer force of the time vortex taking over, but he could not avert his gaze from his wonderful companion.

These were the last minutes of his conscious life, and they were _perfect_.

"I always loved the peaceful moments with you," the immortal admitted wistfully, "Thank you, Doctor…" His breath hitched, "...for everything."

The Doctor watched his friend closing his eyes ever so slowly.

He would never open them again.

Entirely unbidden, a tear rand down the Doctor's face. He had known it would come to this. Taking his immortality meant taking his life. Jack was always meant to die before the Doctor, if only a few moments.

But that did not make them any easier to bear.

Because with the vortex running through his veins, the Doctor could see everything, and he could do _anything_.

He could dye the sky yellow and he could turn this wasteland of a planet into the most lively greenery the universe had ever known. He could even crunch a dead universe to start it anew.

But he could never revive his friend, because then…all their struggles would have been for nothing.

The least he could do, though, was to leave his friend a final message.

Breathing heavily, the Doctor stared up at the bright sky that illuminated the colourful, _living_ landscape below. A herd of archefanterixes stomped across the water, and the steady rhythm of their march soothed the time lord's mind tremendously.

His mind was burning, and so was his body. He could not take this kind of power, not for long, and not at all. All of this was strange, and it was wrong, and yet it was right in every way he looked at it.

The universe was defining itself in the most paradox, bizarre kind of way, and the Doctor could not help being amazed at the sheer ingenuity of it all.

Every once in a while during his long life, he had known happiness.

He had seen wonders and beauty, and even if his own life was ending, even though his body was dissolving in the very centre of creation itself – or maybe just because it was – he would make sure for this new, old universe to become as breath-taking a place as he had always known it.

Birth and death, love and hatred, war and peace. Good and evil were really just two sides of the same medal. Only in contrast did they form what he loved so much – the complex, confusing, multi-faceted state known to man…as _life_.

And his own life...had been a good one.

~Fin~

* * *

Admittedly, I only read some stoff on the theories about the end of the universe when I was lining out the plot for the plot. The Big Crunch (that is, the universe condensing again) described here is, from our current point of view, the unlikeliest scenario, but it just fit so well with the story. If you're interested, I put the link to a nice overview article in my profile.

I really loved writing this story, and I hope you kind of liked reading it, too. The idea of wrapping everything together in such a way just seemed interesting enough for me to turn it into an actual story. I could have made it better in many respects, but it been lying around almost finished for some months already and I really want to move on to other projects again.

I'd be really happy to get some kind of feedback (none is a bit unsettling, but oh well) - I'm already glad you read this far, so thank you for joining me on this journey!


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